DEARBORN, MI - After not opening a retail location for 11 years, and closing
all its existing stores, Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit opened a 15,000-square-foot location
in Canton in December 2010. This Saturday, another store is
opening in Dearborn, at 22451 Michigan Ave.

And more will be opening soon.

"Our plan in southeast Michigan is to build two stores a
year for the next ten years," Goodwill spokesman Mark Lane told MLive today. He said that he could not name a specific area for the next location, but added that it will likely be in Oakland County.

Although the non-profit organization never really left the
Detroit area - Lane notes that it hosts career-building, job-placement and several other
programs – its retail strategy here was not working. As a result, Lane said company representatives visited stores in other
parts of the country, such as Oregon and Indiana, to gather inspiration.

Going forward,
the company will only open in more densely-populated areas with higher income.
The reason is, Lane explained, that in areas with fewer people and lower incomes donations
suffer, and when donations suffer, the retail outlet itself suffers. Those who
need the products will still travel to Goodwill locations, regardless of where
they're located, he said.

"Shoppers will travel," he said. "We had people from Dearborn visiting our Canton store."

At the new, $500,000 location in Dearborn, a near carbon copy of the
outlet in Canton, almost half of the prodcuts are brand new.

"Even the smell," Lane noted, "It smells new."

Based on the Canton outlet, so far the Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit's retail

strategy has paid off. That store, also built for $500,000, generated $800,000 in revenue in its first year of
operation, and revenues grew by 45 percent in its second year.

"Do the math – we'll probably do $1 million in revenues
there soon," Lane said.

The building now housing Dearborn's Goodwill sat
empty for 15 years, but moving in to the vacant spot was not without its travails.

Lane said the city planning commission, without all members present,
voted against allowing the retailer to come in because of an ordinance that prohibits second-hand stores from being too close to schools or residences.